


You Just Move On

by imaginarypasta



Series: Bitter Pills [4]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Dramatic Irony Babey, Light Angst, One-Shot, Possession, Secrets, as always not pp/d-s compliant, post-reveal, star is there but she's asleep the whole time, well post-possession, yes they're fighting a lot because it's all i write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:07:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23443720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginarypasta/pseuds/imaginarypasta
Summary: Valerie and Danny talk after Valerie's possession. Sequel to BPtS.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Valerie Gray, Valerie Gray & Paulina Sanchez
Series: Bitter Pills [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673851
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	You Just Move On

**Author's Note:**

> Umm idk why these ladies are always eavesdropping so much. i mean i do. it's because it's all i can think of. anyway

The late morning sun was a beautiful shade of yellowish-white, though the glow it cast upon neat white hospital floors and linens was much less picturesque. Paulina had been in and out of Valerie’s room all morning — talking to Star’s parents, stepping out to let the doctors and the Fentons check up on Val, making runs to the vending machine.

She was curled up on a little loveseat in the corner of the room, Star’s head in her lap as she snored faintly. They were covered in blankets someone had brought by hours ago. A bright green one with flower print was thrown over the end of Valerie’s bed; Paulina recognized it as one her mom had made for Valerie’s birthday in first grade.

The morning (and most of the night before) had been a whirlwind. Paulina’s head still hurt when she tried to think of everything at once, so instead she ignored it and drifted in and out of sleep for hours. At some point, Mr. Gray had announced he was going to the cafeteria, which Fenton, who she realized had been sitting just beside her in a folding chair, took as a cue to move to sit by Valerie’s bed. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t fall back to sleep, and Star was resting too peacefully for her to even consider moving. She’d had a long night, too; better to let her rest.

With Paulina’s eyes closed and her breathing slowed by the pressure on her stomach that was Star’s head, she was pretty sure he thought she was asleep. In all honesty, she thought Valerie had been too, but Danny was speaking to her like she was awake. His eyebrows were all knit together and shadowed icy blue eyes; he looked dangerously serious.

In her mind, hospitals were always way louder than in her experience. She had no trouble hearing their conversation over the buzz of fluorescent lights. Paulina had not been one for gossip in a very long time, but being so tired yet so unable to sleep made her a little bit more prone to poor judgement and a lot more curious.

“Are you feeling any better?” she heard him ask softly. His voice shook with worry. Valerie didn’t seem to notice, mumbling back something unintelligible. He laughed, though the sound was hollow. “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

In the last few hours, she’d mostly come back to herself, but she was still scatterbrained. It scared her to see Valerie like this; she was usually so impressively in control, but now it felt like she needed a babysitter.

Paulina’s mind flashed back to her own experience with possession. It had been short, uneventful. She woke up with goosebumps covering her arms and had to knock on a stranger’s window in the middle of the night to find her way home. She really _barely_ remembered it, though she did get a bad fever afterward. Some people told her they remembered a bit more than she did, others didn’t even throw up once. If it didn’t frighten her so much to know, she would ask the Fentons why that was. Why some people were so much more affected by possession.

“Valerie…?” Danny asked, reminding Paulina that she was very much still in a hospital and not waking up on a fire escape for a building she didn’t recognize. God, she hadn’t even realized she was thinking about that. Her heart beat too fast and it took everything she had to stop from jolting and waking up Star.

“Yeah?” she asked. She sounded tired, but distinctly better.

Fenton on the other hand, sounded weary and probably exhausted. She wasn’t sure if he’d slept at all. “How are you doing? Does your… head hurt or anything? Are you, I dunno, dizzy?”

“You almost sound like you’ve never been possessed before,” Valerie laughed. Paulina was pretty sure this had never happened to Valerie before last night either, so she wasn’t one to talk. “I’m fine.” Her tone was light, but Danny’s face wasn’t. He looked like he wanted desperately to leave.

Instead, he just waited a moment and asked, “How much do you remember?”

Valerie’s voice became lower, quieter, but not muffled like before. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Are you sure?”

Paulina wanted to scream. _Jeeze, Fenton, give her a break_.

“I already told you guys.”

“Right, I know, but…” He stopped in a way Paulina was very familiar with. It meant Valerie was making that face, the one that conveyed so much emotion of a type she could never recognize. The one that always made her pause, even if she didn’t know why. Fenton recovered much quicker than Paulina ever could. “You said he wanted to get you out of there?”

“Yeah.” She could feel the electricity radiating off Valerie from here. “ _Asshole_.”

“But what does that mean?”

“How am I supposed to know? _He’s_ the asshole.”

“Tell me about it,” Danny agreed. He sounded peaked. “But was there anything else he… thought?”

“Who wants to know?” Valerie demanded. Paulina had thought some of the suspicion had gone away, but maybe Valerie had just always been like this — on her guard, nervous — and she’d been too busy to notice.

“Uh, me,” Danny said.

Valerie huffed. “I already told your parents they’re not experimenting on me.”

“They won’t try to,” he reassured her. “They would never do that without your permission. They just want to measure how much ectoplasm you’ve been exposed to.”

“Um, I literally have a suit made of like ectoplasm-y stuff on me at all times.”

It was a realization that made Paulina suddenly quite worried for her friend. Her fingers twitched from below a blanket, but she stayed still. Valerie could clearly take care of herself.

“I know. I told them they shouldn’t.”

“Why,” Valerie said, although it wasn’t so much a question as a demand.

“Well,” Danny said slowly. “The main reason is because when they suggested it, you started yelling ‘No!’ But also because they’ve done the tests on me and Jazz before and they kinda suck.”

“Oh, Danny,” Valerie said, voice hushed.

“Oh, no,” he said quickly. “They’re just really, _excruciatingly_ boring. And almost entirely pointless. I’m really not sure what they’re expecting to find. I mean, we live with a portal to the ghost world two floors down.”

“It’s more of a zone than a world,” Valerie said.

“You’ve been?”

“Once or twice,” she said pensively. “And calling it a world is definitely generous.”

Danny made a pensive noise. “So I’ve heard. But…” There was the briefest of pauses, and then a much less fleeting series of sputters from Danny. “Don’t look at me like that, oh my God. Anyway, you still haven’t told me—”

“I’ve told you guys all you need to know,” she said. “And I’m not saying more.”

“Val…”

“God, Danny, _what_?” Had Paulina not been so accustomed to outbursts like this from Valerie, she would’ve jumped. But she’d always been very passionate, so she stayed still. “I don’t want to talk about it. He was there. Being a shitty fighter and a shittier guy, like _always_. And then he goes and does this. He had one thought the whole time, Danny. He wanted to get rid of me. Get me out of his way. What more do you want me to say?”

“Nothing,” he said. It was clear that he didn’t get the answers he was looking for, ones Paulina would very much like to get herself, but he quickly backed down. She would never be so unrelenting, so it was probably good Valerie was talking to him and not her. “I’m sorry.”

Valerie kept on talking like she hadn’t heard a word he’d said. “Frankly, he’s a dick. And I’m not going to make something up just so you feel better about the ‘town hero.’ You should know better than most people that ghosts are single-minded, selfish, dangerous jerks. I know everybody in this stupid town loves him, but I’ve heard his thoughts, Danny, and he’s not a nice guy like everyone thinks.”

“Okay,” Danny said flatly.

“One day I’ll prove it to you guys, and I’ll have to rescue you from him. He’s going to regret ever coming here and trying to hurt my friends.”

His voice was pleading, “Val, I get it.”

“But you don’t! He’s evil! He lost his humanity a long time ago and all he wants now is attention or fame or whatever, but _I’m_ not too stupid to fall for that trick. If he tries something with me again, he’s gonna get—”

“Valerie, stop!” Unlike with Valerie, Paulina did jump when Fenton yelled. She’d always known him as a quiet troublemaker, but this was so… forceful. It wasn’t angry, more frustrated or frightened, but it was definitely jarring. She didn’t realize she’d started at the sound. Star was asleep still, though, even if their conversation had quieted. Paulina carefully shifted in her position and felt her body relax without her permission; it stilled, but her mind was still racing.

After a moment, their conversation resumed. Valerie asked in an angry whisper, “What the shit, Fenton?”

“I’m sorry,” he said and it sounded like he was about to cry. “I didn’t mean to yell.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” She let out a very characteristic exasperated sigh.

Danny said, “It’s just hard to see you like this.”

“What, injured? I’m hurt all the time fighting ghosts. This is fine.”

“I was actually going to say hellbent on revenge, but whatever.”

“You know, you’re being kind of an asshole right now. And you don’t have a leg to stand on either, Fenton.”

“What does _that_ mean?”

“What does that _mean_?” she asked incredulously. “You were _there_ and you just let him do it. Like my mind meant _nothing_. Like, I get it from a ghost, but I thought we were friends. And I…” Paulina could hear the words get stuck in her friend’s throat. It sent a shiver down into her stomach. Something was wrong with what she was saying. More than just the fact that Fenton definitely hadn’t been with her during the attack.

“Valerie, what are you talking about?” The question was a lie, but it shouldn’t have been. He knew exactly what she meant. Paulina only wished _she_ did too. What on earth were her friends getting into?

“I’m sorry,” Valerie said. “I— I just got confused.” She sighed, and Paulina could hear the _thump_ of her hand on the bed beside her. “Listen to me, I sound like a crazy person.”

“You don’t sound like a crazy person.”

“I just accused you of being at fault for _me_ getting possessed. You weren’t even there.”

Danny was quiet for a moment, but said softly, “I should’ve been.”

“Why? You’re embarrassingly weak. _And_ afraid of ghosts, which is silly because you grew up around them.”

“Well, technically, they didn’t appear until like freshman—”

“Not important,” Valerie said. “What _is_ important is that I can protect you. And now you know that. So you don’t have to run away during ghost attacks like a coward.”

“Gee, thanks. You really know how to flatter a guy.”

“Shut _up_ ,” she laughed. “You still _can_ , if it makes you feel better. Even if it is potentially more dangerous. But I’ll give you a ride home afterward? If you want?”

“Sure.” There was a smile in Danny’s voice.

Their conversation seemed to come to a natural stop, so Paulina gently pushed Star’s head to the side before resting it on a lump of blanket. Danny watched her with big eyes, carefully tracking her motion. She gave him a drowsy smile as she walked over to him.

“Why don’t you go get something to eat?”

“I’m not hungry,” he said. At some point, his eyes had fallen back onto Valerie and they remained trained on her.

“I’m politely telling you I’d like a moment with my friend,” she whispered, although she didn’t really need to since everyone could hear her anyway.

“Oh,” he said. As he stood, she moved to sit, and he almost crashed into her, ducking to the side before they collided. “’Scuse me.”

When they were alone, Paulina said, “You’re lucky to have him.”

Valerie shrugged. “He only came because his parents did.”

Paulina knew that wasn’t true, because she’d heard the Fentons arguing earlier that morning about this very thing. “I don’t know about that.” She pressed her palms onto her knees. “I thought you guys were close.”

“Not that close.”

“Close enough to tell him you’re the Red Huntress.”

“Oh, you remember that?”

“Yeah, you were the one out of it, not us.”

“I guess I hoped my suffering would be a little more crisis-inducing.”

“Guess you need better friends.”

Valerie laughed, but said, “I think I have pretty good ones.”


End file.
